


Birth of a Star (and Other Lost Verses of the Red Book of Westmarch)

by dearfriendicanfly



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Poetry, The Red Book of Westmarch - Freeform, we've officially reached the stage of lockdown where i start writing hobbit poems, yep that's right babey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearfriendicanfly/pseuds/dearfriendicanfly
Summary: Here are collected poems translated into English from a newly discovered early draft of the Red Book of Westmarch, written by Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and Elanor Gardner, as the book was passed down to each of its keepers.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins & Frodo Baggins, Frodo Baggins & Elanor Gardner, Frodo Baggins/Sam Gamgee, Sam Gamgee & Elanor Gardner
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Birth of a Star (and Other Lost Verses of the Red Book of Westmarch)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Birth of a Star" is perhaps the most notable of the newly discovered poems, as it is the only one that appears to have been written by Frodo Baggins himself. As the first volume of _The Lord of the Rings_ notes, Frodo was rarely moved to write poetry. But the subject of the poem seems to be the birth of Elanor Gardner, daughter of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton, while they resided with him at Bag End. The dates written on the manuscript places it around that time, though it seems that early versions of the poem were written prior to Elanor's birth, and these have a far darker and more anxious tone. Printed here is the final version of the poem, penned on the first of April of that same year, which was copied by Elanor herself after the Red Book was passed down to her. Frodo's original drafts were written on loose leafs of paper, which Samwise apparently discovered and kept safe after Frodo's departure from the Grey Havens. It is unknown why this poem is not present in later editions of the Red Book, nor if it made it into the first edition at all. If not, then perhaps it was simply that Elanor wished for "Birth of a Star" to remain a special gift between herself and Frodo.
> 
> The poem follows a rhyme scheme similar to that of a poem that _was_ ultimately added to the Red Book, called "The Sea Bell (Frodo's Dreme)". It is now widely believed that the author of "The Sea Bell" is Elanor herself, and that it was written as a personal response to "Birth of a Star" in the wake of her father's own departure from Middle Earth and her weighty inheritance as the Book's new keeper. "Birth of a Star" presents itself as an apology, and "The Sea Bell", if it truly was Elanor who wrote it, seems to say, "I understand."

In a garden far, I saw a star  
Sprouting from the hilltop green.  
Fairer still than sweet Niphredil,  
I felt its warmth pierce me keen.  
Golden sun, it bade me come  
To bathe my feet in waters where  
The quiet knell of Nimrodel  
Would know the burdens that I bear.

By the water I tarried as it carried  
My sorrows to the distant sea.  
My pain was soothed like stones smoothed  
In the riverbed so tenderly.  
Bent, I wept for those burdens I kept  
Which Nimrodel could not take from me.  
Her kindness wasted, bitter it tasted  
As I left the garden, never again to see.

In a barren land, I reached my hand  
Toward a star in darkness veiled.  
Faint its light shone in the night,  
But I could not reach it. The dark prevailed.  
Despair shook me, the deep sea took me,  
The love that I bore drowned and died.  
But my heart was borne in hands careworn  
And I was lifted from the tide.

Far he brought me, and in the garden taught me  
The names of stars and flowers alike.  
My heart was soothed, my edges smoothed  
But at my core, a cruel blade strikes.  
The stars are pale, the sky is veiled  
And the sunlight stings down to my bones.  
Long I weep for the burdens I keep  
That are not mine to keep alone.

The garden blooms in spring-soft hues,  
The fruit of love’s labors kindly.  
When darkness takes me, old wounds ache me,  
Among these earth-stars I grope blindly.  
Young lily green before me seen,  
I try to take her in my hand,  
But the stem is bowed beneath my load.  
My burden she cannot withstand.

I walk beside a river wide  
Where once I called its banks my home.  
But now it would bear me someplace where  
I would forget all that I’ve known.  
The sea, the sea! I hear the sea  
Calling to claim my barren heart.  
And loveless must I be, for slowly  
I realize that I must depart.

But in a garden near, despite my fears,  
A sun-star bright as life is born.  
Fairer still than Niphredil,  
Or any hope that ever I’ve borne.  
The curtain parts, my still heart starts,  
And never again so long as you live  
Shall I call myself bare! My heart blooms with fair  
 _Elanor._ My sun-stars to you I give.

If parted we should be, never again to see  
Like kind Nimrodel in her lonely glade,  
And all that I leave you are words to beseech you  
To forgive me my weakness to fire and blade,  
I will take with me your fair memory  
And the warmth of your little hand clutched in mine  
And hope selfishly that my love you will keep,  
And it will not burden you; but like a star, shine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cringe is dead, we're writing hobbit poetry in 2021
> 
> also if you haven't read "the sea bell," please do, it's one of tolkien's best poems and it makes me cry every time...


End file.
